Hugh Hefner: 10 Weird Scenes For The Playboy’s 88th Birthday [VIDEOS]

What does it mean that the Ultimate Warrior is dead as Hugh Hefner celebrates his 88th birthday? It means that the founder of the Playboy empire and the Playboy Philosophy might be right about his plans to live forever. That’s one of the reasons that you’ve never heard much talk about Hef having a successor at the Playboy Mansion. Insiders can assure you that Hef is going strong, too.

Yeah, Hef can look kind of infirm–but it wasn’t so long ago that we were stumbling around a Playboy production studio and found a team of electricians working on a set of mixed vibrators. We thought it was for an upcoming Playboy production. Instead, we were informed that Hef was about to go on a European tour, and they were changing out the electrical outlets so that Hef would be able to travel with all of the toys that had personal approval from American Playmates.

You didn’t see that kind of thing on The Girls Next Door, or the other reality shows that have become Hugh Hefner’s way of staying in the public eye. But as Hef turns 88 years old, let’s look at some other weird moments from his long career. (We’ve already enjoyed great lost pics of his early years.) There’s plenty of Hugh Hefner video out there, but here’s a collection of some memorably strange moments. Hef would be happy to tell you to expect about another decade of them…

Here’s an idea of how early Hugh Hefner began infiltrating American living rooms. It’s an appearance on the What’s My Line game show in 1961, and Hef was already famous enough that the celebrity panel had to wear blindfolds. There’s lot of accidental double entendres here…

Hef spent a few years as a film producer with Playboy Productions–and he first hit Hollywood with Roman Polanski’s production of MacBeth. The movie mainly got attention for an amazingly realistic decapitation. Or at least by 1971’s standards. Anyway, here’s Hef introducing Polanski and his doomed wife Sharon Tate on an episode of Playboy After Dark. Check out how Hef has to drop a more obscure movie before plugging Polanski’s then-recent success with Rosemary’s Baby. That’s some original hipster oneupmanship….

Here’s some amazing proof of longevity. It’s a 1982 episode of Laverne & Shirley with Penny Marshall and Carrie Fisher(!) as aspiring Bunnies at a Playboy Club back in the early 1960s–so you have Hef in 1982 playing himself in 1962, and probably not even marveling at how he’d already survived longer than anyone ever expected..

The recent reality shows haven’t been hip, but let’s give Hef some credit right now for an appearance on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Hef needed a classy turn, and this is a memorable moment that proves Hef still has some fine improv skills…

And let’s not pretend that Hugh Hefner was always hip in the 1970s. Here’s a particularly painful sketch from the legendarily awful Pink Lady & Jeff variety show, where poor Hef has to practice his comic timing with an imported pop duo who couldn’t speak English. That’s a regrettable tuxedo, too…

To make up for that one, here’s Hef being defiantly square as MTV Cribs visit the ultimate crib of the Playboy Mansion. Hef could’ve tried to drop some names to relate to the then-current kids. Instead, he figured he’d take the Tony Bennett tactic of just being square–and it works…

These two clips are another tribute to Hef’s long-running legacy. We’re pretty sure that Hugh Hefner is the only celebrity who ever lived long enough to endure a Dean Martin Celebrity Roast in the ’70s, and then still be up for all the same gags for a Comedy Central Roast a few decades later. Hef had enough to laugh at right there…

Hef has had a few recent big-screen adventures–and The House Bunny had the beauty of Anna Farris, but we prefer the underseen Miss March. It kind of bombed as the big-screen debut for some veterans from The Whitest Guys You Know, but Hef made a smart call when he personally endorsed the script…

And finally, here’s Hugh Hefner at his philosophical best on an old ’70s show called Day at Night. It’s a great reminder that there really was a philosophy behind the Playboy empire, and Hef never settled into complacency in the changing times. Also, he looks more styling than he should in some other ’70s fashions….